


Easy Love

by imtrash17



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, basically just fluff, broken ankle, this is my first fic ever so feel free to give me your opinion !
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 18:52:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11408454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imtrash17/pseuds/imtrash17
Summary: Louis thought about it for a moment. He got to stay all day with Harry, being spoiled by his best friend.Okay, maybe breaking his ankle wasn’t such a bad thing





	Easy Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone and thank you for clicking on this fic ! It's the first fanfiction I write so I apologize if it's shit. English is not my first language so if you notice any mistake, feel free to let me know ! I hope you appreciate this short fluff overdose that I wrote about a prompt I saw on Tumblr almost 2 years ago. If you hate it, you can tell me, I'm here for constructive criticism and this is a first experience so don't hesitate!  
> Love, 
> 
> Jaime

“Fuck!” Louis almost yelled as he puts his foot down or at least tries to do so, as the pain thickens in his ankle.  
He shouldn’t have tried to jump over the fence to catch that dumb cat and only now does he realize that. He’s not as agile and quick as he once was, but God knows Louis’s way too proud to admit that to himself, even if in the grand scheme of life, it doesn’t matter. He’s still able to run after his little sisters and brother in the backyard and he’s still an excellent football player, thank you very much. But the fucking black cat managing to break into his house to sleep on his pile of clean sheets? That was something else. And in his little scheme, it was a real pain in the ass.

As he examined his ankle carefully, he heard a car parking in front of the house and thought that it was probably Harry coming back from the Styles’ house. He suddenly thanked the sky that Harry hadn’t been there to see him ridiculously fall on the sidewalk earlier and then limping back to the house with a shoe missing.

“Lou?” he heard Harry call from the hall. 

“In my bedroom!” Louis’ answer came out weaker than he had intended. He heard Harry’s footsteps through the rooms, then saw his curls through the open door.

“Lou, you okay?” Harry seemed confused as to why his best friend was dramatically lying on the bed, his arm thrown over his eyes. Louis gave no real explanations, just started whining and pointing a finger to his left ankle, now the size of a small orange. 

“Louis, I wouldn’t want to alarm you, but I think your ankle might be broken so-“ 

Louis cut him off. “Haz please, it’s not broken. I know I’m the dramatic one but this time you’re exaggerating.”

Harry completely ignored Louis and kept talking.  
“So I say we go to the hospital and you can explain on the way how you managed to break a bone while I left you for a couple hours.”

Louis scoffed and pushed himself up on his elbows. “Hell no, I’m not explaining to you. You’ll just laugh at me.”

“Lou, when have I ever laughed at you? You’re the one always mocking the fact that I have the coordination of a baby deer.”

Louis smiled softly. Yes, Harry was not good at football or skateboarding but he was also graceful and could walk like a model on a runway. Not that Louis would ever let that slip, though. 

“’Kay. But you’re sure we have to go to the hospital?” Louis sat on the edge of his bed, careful not to touch his sore ankle. 

“Let me see. I’m no doctor but I’ve helped your mum with your siblings enough times to know what a broken ankle looks like, or well, I think.” 

Louis slapped Harry’s thigh as he was sitting next to him carefully, taking Louis’ leg on his lap.

“What, you mean I don’t help my mum so I don’t know what it looks like?” 

Harry laughed at him softly, making Louis blush. Louis took care of his siblings all the time, it’s a good thing none of them broke a bone under his watch!  
Hold on, didn’t Phoebe break her-

“No Lou, I just mean that when Phoebe broke her ankle, you were hungover and begged me to call your mum for you. I went to babysit the others while Jay took care of Phoebe.”  
Oh yeah, now Louis remembers.

Harry is giggling now and Louis really didn’t need to be reminded of that terribly embarrassing moment. It had been Niall’s birthday the night before and Niall’s parties always leave him hungover. Always. He was not to blame. And he’s well aware that his best friend is an amazing human being who stole the heart of his family on the first day he met them. (Louis can’t really blame them.)

“Lou?” Harry snapped Louis out of his thoughts with a worried look on his face. “You sure you’re alright? You didn’t hurt your head as well as your ankle, did you?”

“Now Hazza, I’m offended. I’m able to keep myself alive when you’re not around, you know? No, I didn’t hurt my head, thank you. So, do I really need to go to the hospital?” 

The slight fear in his voice was just an illusion. It’s not that Louis was afraid of hospitals. It’s just that hospital were uncomfortable and weird and way too clean. So if Louis could avoid hospitals, he would.

Harry took Louis’ ankle as delicately as possible and inspected it closely. Louis didn’t know what he was looking for exactly but he was too busy trying to stop wincing to ask.

“I don’t know Lou. It seems really painful. I think it’d be better to get a real doctor with a real degree to take a look at it.”

“You mean the degree cut out of pink paper with drawings of unicorns and hearts that Daisy and Phoebe gave you a couple years ago is not enough to make you a competent doctor? I’m honestly shocked.”

Harry laughed again and Louis forgot the striking pain for a few seconds.  
Harry put down Louis’ ankle slowly and got up from the bed. He walked to the wardrobe, took a sweater out of it and threw it at Louis’ head. 

“Put it on, I’ll be right back.” As he walked out the door, Louis thought that Harry should have a real degree because he’d make a really hot doctor. 

Harry came back a couple minutes later with Louis’ phone and wallet, only to find Louis whining on the bed, much as he had found him when he came home earlier. 

“C’mon, Lou.” He put his right arm behind Louis’ back and his left arm under Louis’ bent knees. 

“Harry, what are you doing??”

Harry stopped moving, watching Louis’ with a confused frown.  
“I’m carrying you to the car, what does it look like?”

Louis sighed dramatically. “Please, it’s just a sprained ankle. Harry. Put me down.”

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be walking right now, hush.” Louis was still rolling his eyes at him but Harry ignored it.

They made their way to Harry’s car without too much trouble. Louis swears Harry almost let him knock his head against the door frame of their living room but Harry says it’s not true and that’s what they jokingly bickered about on the whole way to the hospital. Louis was secretly happy Harry forgot that he still had no idea how Louis got injured.

Harry parked his car close to the hospital entrance and told Louis that this way “I wouldn’t have to carry you through the whole parking lot.” To which Louis responded by smacking his head. Harry was still laughing when they entered the hospital, Louis safely tucked in Harry’s warmth once again. They met a doctor a few minutes after arriving and were almost scolded by the old man. Apparently, Louis’ ankle was severely broken and he wouldn’t be able to walk, drive or work for weeks. 

“Weeks?!” Louis almost shouted.

“I’m afraid so, M. Tomlinson.” The doctor answered coldly. 

Louis disliked hospitals even more now. Harry was sitting across the room, looking just as confused as Louis did.

“You’ll have to stay home, and move just when it’s really necessary, understood?” Louis didn’t have anything to do but nod so he did. 

“Good. A nurse will take care of you in a moment. Goodbye, M. Tomlinson.” And just like that, he was out of the room. Harry came to sit next to Louis and took his hand. 

“Lou, you’ll be fine. It’s only for a month. You’ll stay home with me and I’ll take care of you, alright? Now you’re glad I work from home, right?” He said with a small laugh.

Louis thought about it for a moment. He got to stay all day with Harry, being spoiled by his best friend. He got to take a break from work and he got to invite his family every weekend if he wanted to. Okay, maybe breaking his ankle wasn’t such a bad thing. His mum wouldn’t agree but if it took a broken bone for him to take a break well maybe that was just fine.  
“Yeah, definitely.” Louis said grinning wide. 

That’s how the nurse found them, sitting close, smiling at each other, holding hands. 

“Sorry, M. Tomlinson?” She said, excusing herself for interrupting such a lovely sight. Louis looked up quickly, smiling at her. 

“Yes, that’s me.” Louis said, a bit unsure about what was going to happen next. Harry squeezed his hand and told him that everything was gonna be fine. Of course, Louis believed him. 

A few hours and lots of paperwork later, Louis was in Harry’s arms once again, this time with a white cast around his ankle and a few pain killers in his system. The pain was mostly gone for now and Louis just wanted to sleep. 

“Lou? You sleepy?” Harry asked, setting Louis on his bed. Louis didn’t have the energy to answer so he just gripped Harry’s t-shirt tightly and pulled him down next to him. 

“Okay, you know I’m always up for a cuddle, Lou.” Harry laughed lightly. He wrapped his arms against Louis and pushed him against his chest. Louis was always Harry’s big spoon but Harry didn’t mind exchanging the roles, especially when it was because Louis needed to be taken care of. 

\---

Louis woke up, still a bit drowsy from his impromptu nap. He checked his phone on the night table. Almost 8 pm. How was he expected to go back to sleep in a few hours? His thoughts were cut short by the smell of food, probably coming from the kitchen. “It’s not gonna come from the bathroom, dumbass” Louis thought out loud.  
He was beginning to sit up on his bed, when he was reminded of his broken ankle by a striking pain flowing through his whole body. He must have screamed a bit too loud because next thing he knows, Harry was in his room wide eyes and out of breath, with a frying pan in one hand and a bag of spice in the other. 

“Lou??” He seemed to calm a bit when Louis smiled at the sight of his pan full of shrimps. 

“Sorry, Haz. I just forgot I had a broken ankle” he laughed and Harry’s frown turned into a smile.  
“Are you cooking for me? Are you cooking shrimps with pesto and garlic for me?”

“You sound like I never cook for you, Lou.” Harry rolled his eyes, starting to make his way back to the kitchen. 

“Wait! Can I taste?” Louis called out. Harry’s head showed up through the door frame “No, Lou. You always ask and the answer is always no!”

Louis faked a pout, knowing damn well that Harry can’t see him. 

“And I know you’re trying to pout right now, so stop it!” He heard Harry yell from the kitchen. 

Louis laughed and grabbed his phone, deciding to text his mum to inform her of his state. After a long dramatic message about stray cats and their bad influence, he got his mum’s answer:

Harry called me when you were sleeping, only thing I didn’t know was the story about the “evil” cat haha. We’ll come see you this weekend. Let your boy take care of you. Love you xx

Of course Harry had called his mum. Of course his mum wouldn’t take his story about that demon cat seriously. Of course his mum would call Harry “his boy” because no matter how many times he told her that Harry was just his best friend, she didn’t seem to believe him. 

Louis didn’t have the time to think too long about it because Harry showed up, telling him that dinner was ready. 

As Harry picked up Louis’ body with ease, Louis couldn’t help but blush at the thought that this would happen a lot in the next few weeks. 

“Harry.” Louis said as Harry grabbed another chair for Louis’ injured leg. 

“Yeah?” Harry stopped his movement. 

“Thank you. You’re doing all of this and you’re just so great. Thank you for cooking for me all the time, too.” Louis wanted to stop being emotional but he just couldn’t. Not with Harry looking at him like that. 

“Lou...” Harry cradled Louis’ face in his palm, brushing his thumb on Louis’ cheekbone. He was smiling so wide his dimples were showing and when he kissed Louis’ forehead, the smaller boy couldn’t help but sigh happily. 

“You’re welcome. It’s easy taking care of you because I love it.” 

They ate the dish (delicious, in Louis’ opinion) that Harry had spent a couple hours cooking and as they talked about everything and nothing, Louis thought about Harry’s words. “It’s easy.” It always had been like that. Easy. They had met when Harry was 16 and Louis was 18 and they had fit and it was easy. They moved together in a small flat when Harry was 18 and Louis was 20 and they still fit and it was easy. They had gone through university and graduation and they were still living together in a bigger flat but it was still easy.  
Louis remembered the first night they had spent living under the same roof. Harry and him were sleeping in the same bed because they hadn’t bought a second one yet. Harry had told him “Adults make everything complicated. Even the easiest thing. Like love. They make everything much harder than they really are. I don’t want to be like them.”  
Louis had agreed, without really knowing why Harry had told him that. 

Now he understood. He wanted to laugh because it was so easy. How come it took a broken ankle to get him to understand it? When did he become and adult? When did he make this complicated when it really wasn’t? He was in love with Harry. As simple, as easy as that. 

Harry was picking up the dirty plates from the tables and Louis stopped thinking. 

“Harry, I’m in love with you.”

There. It was easy getting it out. Easier than what Louis had thought. Harry was frozen, their empty plates in his hands, his back to Louis.  
Silence stretched between them and Louis began to regret his words. 

“I-I’m in love with you too.”  
Harry had dropped the plates in the sink and was facing Louis, his eyes wide and his smile still a bit shy. 

“Really?” Louis wanted to stand up and throw himself at Harry but he obviously couldn’t. 

“Yes, of course. Since I was 16.”

Louis didn’t even have the time to react. Harry crossed the space between them, bowed down to meet Louis’ level and kissed him. 

They fit. Louis had always known that but now it was obvious. 

When Harry pulled away, Louis giggled. “I can’t believe all of this happened because I broke my ankle.”

Harry’s lips were painted with mischief when he said “By the way, you still haven’t told me how you broke it.”

Louis loved his boy but he also had some dignity. “Oi, Harold, trading kisses against an embarrassing story? That’s too easy!”


End file.
